A new wealth-creating agenda for the Labour Party

Mariana Mazzucato argues that, in its search for a new leader, the Labour party also needs a new story about innovation, the economy and wealth creation

A consensus is developing about why the Labour party lost - and lost big time - in the UK election. But the consensus is wrong. To those relying on the polls for prediction, the result came as a surprise. But for those who have followed Labour in the last years, have tried to influence their policies and have been frustrated by the lack of a seriously different story - on what caused the crisis, what to do during it and how to get out of it - it was less surprising.

In many ways, what Labour offered was 'Tory Light': 'We too will cut the deficit, but less'. 'We too think immigration is a problem, and will aim to let fewer immigrants enter, but more than the Tories'. In other words, there was no serious effort to develop a story on why running a deficit now could hold the key to future growth. (Look at the US, that ran a 10% deficit in 2009, and is today growing more than any European country that has been running a surplus). And there was no serious story on why immigration has actually been one of the key strengths of the UK economy, both in terms of the human capital it has attracted and the way this has resulted in a less provincial island mentality.